Tag Archives: earle cabell

Mayor Henry Ervay is buried in Oakland Cemetery near Fair Park.

The following Dallas mayors have run for governor or senator and won:

• ______________

That’s right. None.

Mayor Ron Kirk (1995-2002) is actually the only Dallas mayor ever to receive his party’s nomination for Senate, but he lost the general election. None has ever run for governor. However, a few Dallas mayors have gone on to serve in other offices.

John McClannahan Crockett, Dallas’ second mayor who served from 1857-58, became lieutenant governor from 1861-63 after Texas joined the Confederacy. After the Civil War, he served as mayor again in 1866-67.

But that’s the highest office a former Dallas mayor has ever held — lieutenant governor of a seceded state, something Mayor Tom Leppert could still achieve if Gov. Rick Perry gets his way.

Mayor John William Lane (1866) became a state representative and then a state senator.

Mayor Henry Schley Ervay (1870-72) went on to serve as a city alderman (councilman) from 1873-82. By the way, the reason one of the city’s main streets is named after him isn’t his 12 years of service. He became a Dallas hero because after becoming mayor, Ervay was considered not loyal enough to the Union (even though the guy was from New York) and thrown in jail in 1870 by the military governor. The state supreme court ordered Ervay released and he was allowed to serve.

Mayor Earle Cabell (1961-64) was later elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. The only other mayor to run for the House was Mayor Wes Wise (1971-76) but he lost that race. Mayor Steve Bartlett was already a congressman when he became mayor (1991-95).

Houston’s mayors have fared even worse. Mayor Joseph Chappell Hutcheson Jr. (1917-18) became a federal judge. Mayor John Browne (1892-96) later was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. Bill White (2004-10) was the first to run for governor and, like Kirk who ran for Senate, he lost. In fact, none of Texas’ governors or senators has ever been a mayor of any Texas city.

So if Mayor Tom Leppert resigned to run for Senate, good luck. History’s not on his side.